1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a thermal treatment apparatus for thermally treating by inserting an insertion unit into a human body either via a body cavity or a lumen such as blood vessels, urethra and abdominal cavity, or pressing its pressing part against a vital tissue surgically or on the body surface, and then irradiating a vital tissue with the energy such as laser beam, microwave, radio frequency, and ultrasound from its emission part provided at the insertion unit or the pressing part.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various thermal treatment apparatuses have been know for treating lesions to reduce or eliminate them by means of heating, degeneration, necrosis, coagulation, cauterization or vaporization of lesions by irradiating them with the energy, such as laser beam, microwave, radio frequency, and ultrasound, with a long and slender insertion unit inserted into a living body either via a body cavity or an opening produced by a small incision.
For example, in applying thermal treatment to benign prostatic hyperplasia, a thermal treatment apparatus is used for treating the prostate transurethrally using laser beams, etc., due to the prostate""s position that surrounds the rear part of the urethra. In such a treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, a technology has been proposed for concentrating laser beams at the target site located deep inside a tissue by changing the emitting angle of laser beams continuously while reciprocating the laser emission part longitudinally inside the insertion area after the long insertion unit has been inserted into the urethra. This makes it possible to treat only the target area thermally while maintaining areas other than the target area at low temperatures. Moreover, since an endoscope is provided in the insertion unit of the thermal treatment apparatus, the lesion can be visually confirmed prior to the laser beam treatment.
However, in the abovementioned thermal treatment apparatus, the laser emission part is located ahead of the endoscope inside the insertion unit. Therefore, in order to move the endoscope toward the distal part in the insertion unit in order to have a front observation, it used to be necessary to retract the laser emission part manually to the position where it does not interfere with the moving path of the endoscope. Thus, it used to require complex procedures in order to make observations by means of the endoscope. Furthermore, there used to be a danger of damaging the laser emission part or the endoscope, if the endoscope is moved toward the distal side of the insertion unit by mistake, when the laser emission part is not in the retracted position.
Moreover, the laser emission part is driven reciprocatingly, for example, as the rotating motion of a motor provided in the proximal unit of the insertion unit is converted into a linear reciprocating motion. The reciprocating motion of the laser emission part is monitored by means of measuring the motor rpm. However, there has been a problem that, when some damages or separations occur in the connecting mechanism between the motor and the laser emission part, the abnormality cannot be detected even though the abnormality results in a problem of the reciprocating motion of the laser emission part.
On the other hand, the thermal treatment apparatus can be controlled by presetting the irradiation time in addition to the energy power, so that the energy irradiation can be stopped automatically when a preset irradiation time has elapsed since the energy irradiation started, in order to regulate the heat quantity delivered to the tissue.
However, it is necessary for a thermal treatment device to reset the energy irradiation time when the prescribed time has passed and the energy irradiation has stopped.
This makes it very difficult to make a judgment how long irradiation time needs to be added in order to achieve a proper treatment effect as the temperature of the tissue, which has been heated by applying energy, lowers while the irradiation time is being reset.
Moreover, since the thermal treatment requires procedures in a sterilized area, the equipment used repeatedly for setting the energy power and the irradiation time, which is difficult to maintain a sterilized condition, is placed outside of the sterilized area. Therefore, the user who is in a sterilized area cannot reset the irradiation time directly. This means that the user has to ask another person to reset the irradiation time, so that the user cannot reset the irradiation time based on an instant decision and may not be able to perform treatments adequately.
On the other hand, the laser irradiation unit has a shorter life compared to the laser generator and is replaced and discarded after being used only once or several times.
Consequently, the energy transmission efficiency of the thermal apparatus tends to fluctuate each time when the energy irradiation unit is replaced. This caused a problem of instability in the heating performance for the treatment as the energy irradiated on the living body varies with the energy irradiation unit even if the energy generated by the energy supply unit is maintained constant.
In order to solve these problems, an apparatus has been disclosed, for example, by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP-A-57-78845, which measures the energy irradiated by the energy irradiation unit each time a treatment is performed and calibrates the energy generated by the energy supply unit so that the desired energy can be irradiated by the energy irradiation unit.
This apparatus may not be able to perform accurate measurements as the operator has to measure the energy irradiated by the energy irradiation unit. Moreover, even if it is possible make an accurate measurement, it is extremely difficult to measure energy without causing contamination of the energy irradiation unit using an unsterilized measuring device. Under such a circumstance, it used to require very complex procedures such as the necessity of preparation of a port member or a connecting member in order to prevent contaminations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal treatment apparatus that is capable of providing a good reciprocating motion of the energy emission part and achieving an excellent treatment effect by properly applying energy to the lesion of the object.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a thermal treatment apparatus comprising: an energy supply unit for supplying energy for treatment; an energy irradiation unit for applying energy supplied by the energy supply unit to a vital tissue, the energy irradiation unit having a movable energy emission part for emitting energy toward the tissue, a driving device for causing the energy emission part to reciprocate, and a guide lumen that supports an observation member for observing the tissue in such a way as to be able to move in the direction of the movement of the energy emission part; and a control unit for controlling the energy emission part to stop at a position where the energy emission part does not interfere with the moving passage of the observing member when stopping the motion of the driving device.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a thermal treatment apparatus comprising: an energy supply unit for supplying energy for treatment; an energy irradiation unit for applying energy supplied by the energy supply unit to a vital tissue, the energy irradiation unit having a movable energy emission part for emitting energy toward the tissue, a driving device for causing the energy emission part to reciprocate, a guide lumen that supports an observation member for observing the tissue in such a way as to be able to move in the direction of the movement of the energy emission part, and a motion detection device for detecting the movement of the observing member to a specified position; and a control unit for controlling the energy emission part to stop when the movement of the observing member to the specified position is detected.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a thermal treatment apparatus comprising: an energy supply unit for supplying energy for treatment; an energy irradiation unit for applying energy supplied by the energy supply unit to a vital tissue, the energy irradiation unit having a movable energy emission part for emitting energy toward the tissue, a driving device for causing the energy emission part to reciprocate, and a reciprocating motion detection device for detecting the reciprocating motion of the energy emission part; an irradiation operating unit for instructing the energy supply unit to start or stop the supply of energy; and a control unit for controlling the energy emission part to conduct reciprocating motion and for causing the energy supply unit to start supplying energy if the result of detection by the reciprocating motion detection device meets a specified tolerance condition within a specified time period when an energy supply start instruction is received from the irradiation operating unit.
The objects, features, and characterization of this invention other than those set forth above will become apparent from the description given herein below with reference to preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.